Wednesday, 23 March 2016

I agree that El Rancho is a good place for a holiday,but some activities are dangerous. Although each activity has rules that help to keep us safe,it is important to listen and do what you are told.

Firstly, here are some examples about how to stay safe.

Kayaking has life jackets and a paddle. Horse riding,you are given a helmet, and rifles, you are given safety glasses.

Secondly, there are good instructors and of course parents and maybe friends to help and support.

Thirdly, El Rancho is a place where you can meet lots of people from different countries, like Japan, and the Phillipines. However, the best thing is the food. It is delicious. The kitchen staff are friendly, helpful and ever so nice as well.

Therefore I agree El Rancho is a safe place for holidays and activities because there are lots of people around to help, like instructors and other people who work at El Rancho is for camping because it has everything to

have an enjoyable time.

Description: We had to write about all the things we did at Camp. I agree with the statement and I believe that El Rancho is a good place to be.

Evaluation: Orange target

Feedback: Good work Zyd I think you did really well sorting your paragraph.

Thursday, 3 March 2016

Many, many centuries ago, when technology wasn't even thought of, there was an enormous, muscular, mighty totara tree. It was tougher than any other tree that ever lived! In it lived a spirit! His name was Okātia. One day the birds told him something about Moana. He also heard that Moana was bigger than him! He was furious and full of anger! He tugged his roots out of the ground, and he started stomping like a giant dinosaur crushing the trees with his giant roots!

Retold by Grace Berkeley And Quiana Rastrick

Okātia was tumbling and turning through the forest with rage. The ground shook with power. Okātia demolished the trees as his roots went past. Tāne was enraged, his children were being crushed! Okātia felt even more angry. he didn't want anyone or anything bigger than him! He said that he was the best out of everything! The sea called Okātia and he got more and more determined to get there! The ground shook with lots of power! He started carving the gorge by crushing and destroying the great wall of rock!

Retold by Memphis Winterburn and Zyd E.

When Okātia got through the gorge he found Foxton beach. He was sinking very very fast like he was in quicksand. He didn't like it! Soon he ran into the water and he was drowning in the water as fast as a ferrari on a race track. He was coming a part of the sea. He tasted salt water and it was the most disgusting water he had ever tasted. Okātia was being dragged out into the sea! In a minute or two Okātia was gone far out in the sea and was never seen again.

Tuesday, 1 March 2016

I wanted to look at spiders because I read a book about them, and I wanted to know more. So Marj and I talked to Rosie and asked her if we could do some research. Then I asked her if I can share it with the whole class. She said yes.

Here is what I have found.

Spider Research

What I know

Spiders make webs

they lay eggs

they have eight legs

wrap flies with silk before they eat them

their webs are sticky

baby spiders only hatch when they're big enough

only some spiders can go on sand

What i want to know

how many different spiders there are in New Zealand

Does NZ have native spiders?

where does the silk come from to make the web

What I've found out about spiders

Jumping spiders are small and they don't make webs. They catch their prey by jumping on them. They have four pairs of eyes, that's eight altogether. The female jumping spider lays eggs. A baby spider is called a spiderling.

A Raft spider stands on top of the water and catches insects, tadpoles and even small fish. A female spider spins a web like a tent to hold her eggs. She guards them until they hatch.

Wolf spiders hunt for food and do not spin webs. They usually hunt at night and they can see very well. Their spiderlings live on their mother's backs until they are big enough to hunt. They've got very strong legs and can run fas to catch heir prey.

I was researching spiders and I learnt that some spiders make webs and some spiders don't. After looking at lots of things, I decided to find out about spiders in New Zealand. Nga pungawerewere o Aotearoa. Then I thought about the poisonous spiders in New Zealand. I found out about the katipo and a fake or false katipo.

Katipo

Maori people knew about the spider that was poisonous and they called it Katipo and that means 'night-stinger'. Katipo live near beaches in the North Island. Only the grown-up female Katipo bites and a fully grown adult female is about the size of a pea. They are shy/whakama and will probably only bite if they get squashed by people.

The false katipo is shiny black or dark brown and just about the size of a real katipo. You can tell each kind of spider by the marks on their puku. It lives at beaches too, just like the real katipo. It's really common in our houses and in our gardens. Ag told me that she finds the false katipo in her garden.

In most parts of Wellington the real katipo has been replaced by the false katipo. This false katipo does bite people but not super bad like the real katipo.

I know lots about spiders now and next term I want to find out about worms.

Bibliography

My first book of bugs and spiders. Dee Phillips ticktock Media Ltd 2006